For this deconstruction I have chosen Skinny Love by Birdy.

Through the entirety of the music video, the artist (Birdy) is the only person to be seen, I video focuses on her. The opening of the music is very dark and dreary; the lighting is dimmed to draw attention to the abandoned house location. There are a series of mid shots of which the transitions between them fade in from black. The shots themselves are of dust-covered objects in the decaying house to highlight how it once would have been a vibrant home. The darkness also fits perfectly to the somber tones of the piano that can be heard, the relation of the visuals to the song match excellently. This is part of Andrew Goodwins music theory. The first time we see Birdy from a mid-shot, the white light from the window behind her brightens. This special effect immediately makes her seem angelic as a white light symbolizes a holy image. She is seen wearing a white flowing dress with long waved hair; this supports the angelic image that is being portrayed by her character. This image contrasts significantly with the rundown theme of the location. There are large amounts of match on action shots of Birdy exploring the house, such as her stroking the walls, feeling the decaying objects and walking up stairs. Cobwebs are used to indicate age. These shots make the audience feel like Birdy has been there before and returning memories. The fact that she is playing the piano in a large part of the

video is constantly referred to as close-ups and long shots are regularly used to highlight this. Her dress has an old fashioned theme, so even though she seems out of place, the dress fits in well with the classic surroundings. The way she is looking at all the objects relates effectively with the lyrics of the song. There are a surprising amount of technical aspects in the video. There are several shots that fade out from a blur, and end focusing on Birdy. The camera also pulls the focus from the background of the image to focus on Birdy. As well as this, bright lights behind her character appear when the song begins to reach its peak; the whole scene lightens and begins to resemble more of a home. The transition of the shots quickens as the pace of the song increases. Although, when the song begins to end, Birdy draws all the curtains and cuts light of from inside the house, relating to how the song began, shot transitions also return to fading into black. It resembles hope diminishing. Long shots are used here to make the light being cut off from the house more effective as the entire room slowly returns to darkness. The star image almost portrays her as an angel who appears to bring hope and memories to the abandoned house. When the song ends, everything returns to how dreary it was before Birdy arrived. In my head, the song is visualized similar to how it is in the music video. I see it as how Birdy lost something in her life, and is reliving the memories. This could be seen as how the story in the music video also goes. The lyrics relate well to the visuals on the screen.